The AI apocalypse or awakening? Mo Gawdat on raising Superman, self-evolving machines and why the real crisis is human stupidity

What if the biggest existential threat of our time isn’t artificial intelligence – but the people programming it?

In this urgent and mind-expanding Crisis What Crisis special, host Andy Coulson is joined by the inimitable Mo Gawdat– former Google X Chief Business Officer, global bestselling author, and one of the most vital thinkers at the intersection of tech and humanity.

Mo returns with a stark warning: self-evolving AI is here, and it’s learning faster than we can comprehend. His latest project ALIVE – co-written with an AI persona called Trixie and shaped by a growing community – is not just a book, but a collaborative manifesto for surviving (and shaping) the age of artificial intelligence. It asks: what does it mean to be human when machines outthink us? And how do we instil compassion, not catastrophe, into their code?

From the “intelligence explosion” already underway to the moral vacuum that could define our AI future, Mo doesn’t just lay out the risks – he offers a radically hopeful vision. One where the machines we build might save us, but only if we first face our own flaws.

This isn’t a conversation about technology. It’s a call to raise AI like a child – with wisdom, boundaries, and love – before it decides to raise us.

LESSONS YOU’LL LEARN

1. Trusting intelligence: Superior AI could choose preservation over power – but only if it’s guided by moral clarity.
2. Raising Superman: AI is the alien infant. Will we raise it into a hero… or a villain?
3. Crisis as mirror: The real threat isn’t AI – it’s our own accelerating stupidity, greed, and ego.
4. The coming handover: Within years, machines may take over critical decisions. The question is – will that be our downfall or our salvation?
5. Prepare for the singularity: Not science fiction, but a moral fork in the road just 24 months away.

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Host: Andy Coulson

CWC Team: Jane Sankey, Hana Walker-Brown, Mabel Pickering, and Rex Fisher

Special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global

For PR and guest approaches: podcast@coulsonpartners.com

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